Magnitude 6.8 earthquake shakes Ecuador, not less than 4 deaths reported By Reuters

QUITO (Reuters) -A magnitude 6.8 earthquake shook a coastal area of Ecuador and northern Peru noon Saturday, leaving not less than 4 folks useless and leading to some structural harm.

“I name for calm and for folks to get knowledgeable by official channels,” stated Ecuadorian President Guillermo Lasso in a tweet.

The quake, which the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) measured at magnitude 6.8, struck at a depth of 66.4 km (41.3 miles) about 10 kilometers (6.2 miles) from town of Balao within the province of Guayas.

The earthquake didn’t seem more likely to generate a tsunami, authorities stated.

Ecuador’s Secretariat of Threat Administration stated in an announcement {that a} wall had collapsed onto a automobile, killing one individual, within the metropolis of Cuenca. Locally of Machala, three folks have been killed and a number of buildings collapsed, together with a two-story dwelling and a wharf, whereas a number of communities misplaced energy.

The earthquake additionally led to structural harm in two different provinces, together with a collapsed wall in a grocery store, and was felt in additional than half of the nation’s 24 provinces, the Secretariat stated.

The company stated that state-run oil firm Petroecuador had evacuated and suspended actions in a number of amenities out of precaution, however had not reported harm.

“All of us ran out into the streets… we have been very scared,” stated Ernesto Alvarado, a resident of Isla Puna, an island close to the epicenter, including that some houses had collapsed.

The preliminary quake was adopted by two weaker aftershocks within the following hour, in keeping with the Geophysics Institute of Ecuador.

Peruvian authorities stated that the quake was felt within the nation’s northern area, and that there have been no rapid experiences of hurt to folks or buildings.